Jan. 22, 2018, 2:56 p.m.

MedMen marijuana dispensary on Robertson Boulevard is one of the first L.A. shops to receive its state license. (Richard Vogel / Associated Press)

California’s Bureau of Cannabis Control has issued its first two adult-use temporary retailer licenses within Los Angeles city limits — both of them to MedMen, bringing that dispensary’s total number of fully licensed medical / recreational shops to five (other doors include West Hollywood, Venice and Orange County).

According to the BCC’s cannabis license database (yes, it’s a thing — and a fascinating one at that), Cyon Corporation Inc. at 110 Robertson Blvd. and Advanced Patients’ Collective at 735 Broadway in downtown L.A. were granted state licenses to operate as both medicinal and adult-use retailers of cannabis on January 19.

MedMen spokesman Daniel Yi confirmed to The Times that both locations were MedMen shops and that both began adult-use sales on Saturday following the Jan. 19 issuance of the licenses.

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Jan. 19, 2018, 5:00 a.m.

It's raining across the Pacific Palisades and Cheech Marin is riffing on wine connoisseurs, gangsters, Kim Jong Un's bottle-cap haircut, the Ku Klux Klan and the man he calls "Mr. Peanut," better known as Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, who has been an annoyance to the comedian's happy, chilled quest to smoke dope without fear of federal agents storming in.

Marin, in truth, is not too worried about that prospect. Marijuana is legal in California, and much of the country backs its recreational use. But the federal government classifies it as a criminal narcotic, and Sessions has threatened a crackdown on growers and dispensers. Marin has been bitter toward Republican attorneys general since 2003, when his longtime partner Tommy Chong was sentenced to jail for selling bongs over the internet.

Jan. 19, 2018, 11:35 a.m.

A customer test-sniffs the cannabis at the MedMen dispensary in West Hollywood this month. (Eugene Garcia /EPA-EFE / REX / Shutterstock)

A citizens panel that is helping to set rules for the marijuana industry in California has agreed to examine the impact of taxes that some growers and sellers have complained are too high.

The state Cannabis Advisory Committee, after lengthy debate, also decided Thursday to create a subcommittee to look into how legalized marijuana affects public health and young people.

Three weeks after the state began permitting medical and recreational marijuana firms, some 710 licenses have been issued by the state Bureau of Cannabis Control for distribution and sale, and 2,036 other applications are pending.

Jan. 16, 2018, 3:55 p.m.

Outside of Maywood's first recreational marijuana dispensary, people stood in a long line that snaked along the building and into a parking lot, where it found the perfect prescription for a raging case of the munchies.

Jan. 16, 2018, 2:25 p.m.

California's top law enforcement official and his counterparts in 18 states and territories say Congress must act to end the banking industry's prohibition on serving the marijuana industry, calling the current state of affairs a public safety threat and a hindrance for law enforcement.

In a letter sent Tuesday to leaders of the House and Senate, California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra and other state attorneys general urged Congress to pass legislation that would provide legal protection for banks that accept deposits from state-licensed cannabis businesses.

Jan. 10, 2018, 5:03 p.m.

Legalizing marijuana nationwide would create at least $132 billion in tax revenue and more than a million new jobs across the United States in the next decade, according to a new study.

New Frontier Data, a data analytics firm focused on the cannabis industry, forecasts that if legalized on the federal level, the marijuana industry could create an entirely new tax revenue stream for the government, generating millions of dollars in sales tax and payroll deductions.

"When there are budget deficits and the like, everybody wants to know where is there an additional revenue stream, and one of the most logical places is to go after cannabis and cannabis taxes," said Beau Whitney, a senior economist at New Frontier Data.

The analysis shows that if marijuana were fully legal in all 50 states, it would create at least a combined $131.8 billion in in federal tax revenue between 2017 and 2025. That is based on an estimated 15 percent retail sales tax, payroll tax deductions and business tax revenue.

The federal government would reap $51.7 billion in sales tax from a legal marijuana market between 2017 and 2025, entirely new revenue for a business that remains illegal -- and unable to be taxed -- federally.

The business tax rate for the study was calculated at 35 percent. The corporate tax rate was lowered to 21 percent in a sweeping tax bill President Donald Trump signed last month.

"If cannabis businesses were legalized tomorrow and taxed as normal businesses with a standard 35 percent tax rate, cannabis businesses would infuse the U.S. economy with an additional $12.6 billion this year," said Giadha Aguirre De Carcer, the CEO of New Frontier.

The study also calculates that there would be 782,000 additional jobs nationwide if cannabis were legalized today, a number that would increase to 1.1 million by 2025. That includes workers at all ends of the marijuana supply chain, from farmers to transporters to sellers.

The study estimates that about 25 percent of the marijuana market will continue to be illicit, and will shrink if the legal marketplace is not overly taxed or expensive.

"Consumers want to do things legally in general, but they don't want to do it at too much of a price," Whitney said. "If they go to 7-11 to pick up cannabis, they're willing to pay 10 to 15 percent on top of what they get on the street. Once they get above that, it slows the transition and makes the consumer think twice about making that legal purchase."

Marijuana is legal for adult recreational use in eight states. California, the world's largest market, started its recreational sales on Jan. 1. Twenty-nine states allow the use of medical marijuana. In the three states where adult use has been legal for the longest period of time - Colorado, Washington and Oregon - there had been a combined total of $1.3 billion in tax receipts, according to the study.

The nationwide legalization of marijuana, however, is looking unlikely under the Trump administration.

While there has been a bipartisan push in Congress to both legalize marijuana nationally and protect the individual states where it is legal, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has gone after the industry.

Last week Sessions made it easier for U.S. Attorneys in places where marijuana is legal to enforce federal law, rescinding Obama-era guidance that discouraged enforcement of federal marijuana law in states that legalized the drug.

The decision has been pilloried by the cannabis industry, which argued that Sessions is trying to stop the momentum of a growing business and restart the war on drugs. The decision has been harshly criticized even by some Republicans. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., threatened to hold up the confirmation of Justice Department posts in response to the announcement.

Sessions said he's enforcing federal law, simply directing all U.S. Attorneys to use previously established prosecutorial principles that provide them all the necessary tools to disrupt criminal organizations, tackle the growing drug crisis, and thwart violent crime across our country," Sessions said in a statement.

Some in the industry believe Sessions' actions could force Congress to step in and regulate the market, or move to legalize marijuana altogether.

"OK, now Congress, do something," said Morgan Paxhia, managing director at Poseidon Asset Management, which invests in marijuana businesses. "Here's a chance to do something meaningful that could move the industry in a much safer direction."

The mayors of 10 cities including Seattle, Long Beach and San Leandro have signed a letter urging U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions to reconsider his decision to roll back a federal policy that gave low priority to prosecution of marijuana offenses in states that legalized the use of the drug.

“Reversing course now is a misguided legal overreach and an attack on cities where legal, safe, and high regulated recreational sale and use occurs, and on the majority of states where the voters have made their voices heard loud and clear on this issue,” the letter said.

Instead, the federal government should focus on combating the opioid epidemic, according to the letter by mayors including Jenny A. Durkan of Seattle; Michael B. Hancock of Denver; Bill de Blasio of New York; Jim Kenney of Philadelphia; Ted Wheeler of Portland, Ore.; Robert Garcia of Long Beach; and Pauline Cutter of San Leandro.